The work now in progress is seeking to demonstrate: That emotional arousal impairs pulmonary functions in adults; That the effect is due to emotional arousal per se and not to suggestion or placebo effects; That the effect occurs with pleasant as well as unpleasant emotions; That the effect is replicable; That the effect occurs only in severely ill asthmatics; That the effect can be blocked when patients are medicated. We are also attempting to show that this emotions effect is not due to an inadequate epinephrine response; That given a severe asthmatic, the effect may be associated with increased norepinephrine release; That the effect may be partly due to emotionally induced increased exhalational efforts; That the effect may be due to hyperventilation (a mechanical factor) and/or the hypocapnia resulting from hyperventilation.